Building a new computer

[Scarpozzi]

Ok guys, I do this every year, but I usually do my own research. I am much more busy this time, so I figured I'd just ask. I'm going to be building me a system in the next 3 weeks. I've decided to go with an ABIT SE6 and a PIII 800 to power the beast. The ABIT SE6 has onboard video, but that just won't be good enough because I'm like the Tim Allen of computers....I NEED MORE POWER, HUH..Huh..huh!
So...Anyone have a suggestion of what I should get for a good 3D card? I've been looking at the Voodoo5, but I've heard the SDRAM isn't fast enough for the card...which could mean slow performance if it can't keep up with its own processes... What's hot and what's not? If it's good and you've tried it, I'll take your word for it and try it myself. Thanks!

 

[Scarpozzi]

Please......not everyone at once here.....

 

[TerreApart]

Check the anandtech articles on best buy setups etc...

Motherboards: It all depends what you want you built-in or not. For performance i NEVER use boards with built in video, maybe sound but NOT video.

CPU: 800 is perfect for price/performance.

RAM: Performance go 128MB min.

Video: Performance/price Geforce2 MX CAN'T be beat, for now anyway...

Happy Hunting...

 

[Scarpozzi]

This particular board has onboard video and sound.....but it also has an AGP slot.... My point was, I don't have to buy a card right away if I decide to start building. But I agree with you....onboard video sucks. There just aren't a lot of GOOD motherboards available on the market that have all the features I require. The ABIT SE6 has a 133MHz bus and ATA100 compatibility as well as a 4X AGP slot which is very hard to find in ABIT motherboards. ABIT is my preference because I've never had any trouble out of these boards they are top of the line in my opinion....love the soft menu.

My real question was, "What card is the best on the market right now?" I know the Voodoo5 has 64megs of Ram, but also heard that the ram wasn't fast enough for the card's processor. Is there something better?

 

[john433i]

You could consider the ATI Radeon 64MB DDR or a card based on the Geforce2 GTS chipset w/64MB DDR, such as the Hercules Prophet II GTS 64MB. But, if you want the best performance possible, you might as well get the Hercules Prophet II Ultra. It is coming out soon, but it will cost a whopping $500! Go to http://www.hercules.com for more info on the Hercules GeForce2 based boards, and to http://www.atitech.com for Radeon info. All of the above boards mentioned have DDR (Double Data Rate) memory, so the memory is effectively twice as fast as SDRAM of the same clock speed.

The Voodoo5 5500 is not as fast as the DDR cards, but even though its hardware Full Scene Anti-Aliasing provides a better picture at a slower speed, the ATI & GeForce2 have software FSAA. Personally, I would get a Hercules Ultra if I had the money, but I don't.

 

[duragezic]

Put this post in General hardware for my opinions.

Since you are going with a Intel cpu, go for a i815e mobo. The ASUS CUSL2 comes to mind. I hear it is a great board. It has onboard sound I believe but that can be disabled via the BIOS.

I'd go for a Geforce2 GTS for the video card. The Radeon is awesome at 32bit color but the GF2 GTS gets up higher since the released of the detonator 6.18 drivers. Whether to get 32mb 64mb: decide for yourself. Check out this Anandtech review and you'll see benchmarks of the 32mb and 64mb version along with many other cards (skip to benchmarks with pulldown list).

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1281

Good luck!

[EDIT]Are you interested in overclocking? If you are, the P3 700E (100mhz bus) cB0 stepping have a good chance of getting to 933mhz or higher. That is 7x133 and with a i815e mobo, that puts your PCI in spec at 33mhz with a 1/4 divider and you AGP in spec at 66mhz with a 1/2 divider. If you don't want to overclock, a 800mhz or 850mhz would be good like you selected.[/EDIT]